Jan 14 2008
BASF demonstrates once more that innovative chemistry is the underpinning of sustainable homebuilding, providing materials and technical support for the National Homebuilder Mainstream GreenHome™ -- a demonstration home created to provide a lesson plan for mainstream sustainable building. The project is being led by Cherokee, the leading investor in the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields.
"We invited BASF to participate in this project because we were looking for a partner who understood sustainability from an inner core, corporate culture perspective and participated in the manufacturing of products that are key elements of the building science needed to establish a methodology for mainstream green homebuilding," said Jonathan Phillips, Senior Director of Cherokee. "We believe that the scientists at BASF are clearly ahead of the curve in this area."
For this project, BASF chemistry enhanced products, including BASF COMFORT FOAM® spray-applied insulation and air barrier; CHROMIX® Admixtures for Color-Conditioned® Concrete; Sherwin Williams Duron® Low VOC paints; and Styropor® expandable polystyrene insulating foam.
The National Homebuilder Mainstream GreenHome will serve as an idea laboratory for thousands of homes on remediated Cherokee properties, as well as for the building industry and public at large. It will produce more energy than it demands for operational use; be made from building materials that limit air pollution during material transportation; maintain healthy indoor air quality; reuse and reduce the need for water; and will have minimal impact on the environment.
"We believe that environmentally-conscious building practices go hand-in-hand with durability, energy efficiency, speed of construction and affordability," said Jack Armstrong, manager of Building and Construction Markets for BASF. "Our participation in the Mainstream GreenHome is one more component of the BASF Better Home, Better Planet™ effort designed to educate builders and home owners about the advantages of high-performance construction technologies used to build both high-end custom homes, as well as affordable homes like the ones currently under construction in devastated areas, such as post-Katrina U.S. Gulf Coast and post-tsunami Sri Lanka."
Other BASF Better Home, Better Planet projects include the BASF Near-Zero Energy Home; BASF High-Performance Philadelphia; BASF Rensselaer Wildlife Refuge; and projects in China and India, to name a few. For more information, please visit betterhomebetterplanet.com and highperformancecommunity.com.